A three-month debate over spending for software ended Thursday when the Natchez-Adams School Board agreed to buy the $270,900 program.

School board members had debated at their July and August meetings whether to spend the money on the Class Works Gold curriculum-based software program. They put off a decision until funding issues were resolved.

District staff have been pushing the software as a way to improve test scores.

Most board members supported the software but weren’t sure about the costs.

&uot;I don’t have a problem with the software,&uot; said Don Marion, a board member who has had many questions about the software.

Marion voted in favor of the software Thursday after receiving information about the funding. He also said he wanted to make sure the district had the computers and servers to operate the software before voting.

With those issues resolved, the board voted to approve funding the software from several sources.

A four-year lease agreement with Trustmark National Bank will finance $116,000 of the software cost. That amount will initially be offset with federal Title 1 dollars.

The board also voted to use $50,000 from its forestry escrow and $69,000 from its Carpenter School Fund — a fund set up for the school district during the 1930s. The board also voted to use $35,000 in grant funding.

&uot;I think it’s going to help us, and I’m truly glad we worked out all the particulars,&uot; said board President Kenneth Taylor. He agreed the software will help students learn and also help them perform better on standardized tests.

The software is custom-designed to match the state’s curriculum and assess if students are learning required skills for their grade level.

District officials say the software will provide test questions, lessons plans and assess the strengths and weaknesses of each student.

&uot;I think (the software) is going to make a difference,&uot; Superintent Dr. Carl Davis said.

The software will document the performance level of each student and give teachers and parents plans to address the specific needs of each students, he said.

&uot;We’ll be able to to make those critical decisions that we have to make and those decisions will be passed on data,&uot; Davis said.

District officials hope to have the software in place by December.

In other business, the board:

4Approved accepting a grant from the Barksdale Reading Institute for $209,930.86 for pre-kindergarten to third grade students at Frazier Primary and Morgantown School.

The school district had already told the board the schools were to receive the funding but did not have the exact amount of the grant to be received at the last board meeting.

4Heard a request from the Rev. Charles R. Jackson for donated furniture for use with the South End Community Action Program, a center on Irving Land that wants to offer after school tutoring programs for students.

Board members said they supported the idea but must find out if a a public entity could donate its property to such a group.

The matter was taken under advisement.

4Heard from Millicent Mayo, director of public relations that Taylor had been appointed by state Superintendent Richard L. Thompson to the Advisory Board of the School Executive Management Institute.

The board offers recommendations on training for school administrators and principals.